The end of empire: british decolonisation

Course Content:
Subjects covered in this course will include

India - how the sub continent won its independence but at the cost of splitting India into 3 countries.

Palestine & the Mandates - Britain was given a range of territorial mandates after World War One, most divisively Palestine. We will look at Britain's role in Palestine and the final declaration of independence of Israel in 1948.

Malaya & Kenya - Britain was one of the first superpowers to come across guerrilla warfare. We will look at Britain's response to two different Independence uprisings in the post war era. The first in late 40s Malaya (still the only successful insurgency war fought by a major power) and secondly the 50s Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. In both cases we will look at how these instances sped up Decolonisation.


The Suez Crisis - 1956. An in depth look at what became Britain's last Imperial invasion before the Falklands War and how it forced a change in our view of our place in the world and caused political turmoil.

The Winds of Change - How Harold MacMillan's speech of 1960 heralded in a new age of granting Independence to Britain's colonies

Rhodesia & later Decolonisation - How Rhodesia declared itself separate from the UK under its leader Ian Smith in order for the white's to cling to power before eventual Independence came in 1980 through war. We will also look at more recent transfers of power and why there was one exception to the trend in the Falkland Islands.


Any additional course information can be asked through our course information lines.
Informal. There are no official assessments for this course
Assessment Methods:
Informal. There are no official assessments for this course